The Saudi Intensive Care Association

The Saudi Intensive Care Association (SICA) was founded in November 2013 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as a subsidiary of the Saudi Thoracic Society. SICA is a non-profit making national association created by a group of multidisciplinary healthcare workers experts on the field of ICU practice to supports and promotes the advancement of knowledge in intensive care medicine, in particular the promotion of the highest standards of multidisciplinary care of critically ill patients and their families through education, research and professional development.

About ICU

An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as a critical care unit (CCU), intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensive care medicine.

Intensive care units cater to patients with the most severe and life-threatening illnesses and injuries, which require constant, close monitoring and support from specialist equipment and medication in order to ensure normal bodily functions. They are staffed by highly trained doctors and critical care nurses who specialise in caring for seriously ill patients. Common conditions that are treated within ICUs include trauma, multiple organ failure and sepsis.

Patients may be transferred directly to an intensive care unit from an emergency department if required, or from a ward if they rapidly deteriorate, or immediately after surgery if the surgery is very invasive and the patient is at high risk of complications.

Seriously ill patients require close observation and monitoring. Specially trained nurses care for one or two patients at a time, each shift. ICU doctors are specially trained critical care doctors. Patients may have special equipment in their room, depending on their unique situation and condition. The equipment in the ICU may seem overwhelming. Patients are connected to machines to monitor their heart, blood pressure, and respiratory rate. Ventilators (breathing machines) assist some patients with breathing until they are able to breathe on their own.